Good Help...

... is sometimes tough to find, so when Dad and Mom showed up for a visit, I stole Pop away for some quality time in the garage. There was lots that needed to be done... wheels mounted, swingarm mounted, exhaust routed, brakes hooked up, etc. etc.

1. Dad was the parts courier again this time, and brought in the rear hubcentric and tires to be mounted. When we removed the rear hub from the old swingarm, we found that most of the mounting bolts and the rear brake stay pin could be used on the MH swingarm. As well, the hub bearings looked OK, but were due for a clean and re-grease. While this was taking place, the rest of the rear axle of the bike was put together. When the hub bearings were done, the spacers went onto the swingarm axle, and the rear swingarm was attached to the engine case. Next went the tires onto the wheels, the rear rim onto to the rear axle, the shock, and then the front wheel was mounted. Finally the Duc got back onto its "feet".

2. While this was going on, Dad and I started to dream up a way to get the PS1000 headers and exhaust cans to work. I incorrectly thought they would be a bolt on, but I couldn't be farther from the truth. The best compromise we could come up with was a design with two separate pipes, no crossover, exiting out the right hand side of the bike. You can see in the first pic the rear header cut and tack-welded to clear the rear shock.

3. It took a rediculous amount of time, but over the course of 2 days we got the two pipes to the state you see here. You can see the steel upper mount (which I hope doubles as a mount for the rear licence plate, and the temporary alloy mount which is attached to the footpeg brace. It was very tedious to get the pipes symmetrical in terms of their angle, and roughly close to their orientation towards the rear of the bike.

4. The rear upper exhaust hanger is pictured below -- it is long to allow some flex in the design -- too short would have been too stout, and vibration may lead to cracking rather than flexing.

I don't know a lot about exhaust tuning -- a motoGP tech book I bought shows pictures of how the same engine from Honda, Ducati, Yamaha, etc. all had different exhausts on the bike depending on the characteristics the engineers wanted from it. Common sense to me and Dad suggested we try to get each header pipe the same length as the other, due to the lack of the crossover pipe. Stock, the front header was 9" longer than the rear. When I was done, the difference was only 4". How will it run? I have no idea. Will it make more or less horsepower? Only a dyno could tell. As this isn't a racer, I don't care a whole lot. Definately a different look but I'm happy with the progress so far. I'm sure I will have to fabricate an exhaust guard for my right boot, and I did see a neat bike with these same exhausts shortened for a stubby look, and likely a growlier sound. Need to finish the lower bracket first.